Spare-tire carrier



Jan. 17, 1928.

F. M. SMALL SPARE TIRE CARRIER Filed Feb. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A TTORNEYD' Jan. 17,1928. 1,656,536

F. M. SMALL SPARE TIRE CARRIER Filed Feb. 9, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. u

fiea'ewbf JIM/l BY V 60 A TTORNEYS m-mnm "IL-Inn l Patented Jan. 17, 1928.

UNITED sTATes PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK 1V1. SMALL, 0]? YGREI, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG-NOR TO MARTIN-LPABRY COR- EORA'IION, 0F YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORFOEATICN OE IDELAVIARE.

SPARE-TIRE CARRIER.

Application filed February 9, 192?. Serial No. 166,914.

The inventionrelatesto improvements in tire carriers preferably of the circular or ring type. i

In the prior art it has been proposed to employ tire carriers of this general construction, but such devices have not been entirely satisfactory principally because the material from which they have been constructed has, either been of such thickness as to render them exceedingly expensive to manulacture as well as excessive in weight, or they have been constructed of material so thin that they are not capable of adequately sustaning the weight and shocks to which a tire carrier is constantly subjected.

It is an object of this invention to provide a carrier the ring type which is constructed of relatively thin metal so as to be very light in weight and inexpensive to manufacture, yet so termed as to possess sufiicient strength to adequately withstand all uses to which the carrier may be subjected. More specifically, the invention provides a carrier that is rolled or otherwise termed from a strip into a channel shaped ring having one or more reinforcing circumferential beads or corrugations to-give; it a most pleasing appearance and great strength and also preferably having-the metal of the flanged end rebent to reinforce these fianges. In the preferred embodiment of my inven tion I have shown three corrugations extending circumterentially around the base of the ring, but it will of course be understood that the number of corrugations employed will vary depending upon many conditions such as the thickness of the material used in the construction oi the ring, the strength of the ring, etc. i

In the accompanying drawings, 1 have shown a single embodiment of my invention for the purpose of illustrating the same, but it will be understood that various changes can be made without departing from" the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims." I

In the drawings, i 1 Figure 1 represents rear view of the carrier, T W t.

Figure 2is a cross-sectional view taken on line'Q-Z'of Figure 1 and showing the channel shaped formation of the ring,

Figure 3 is a sectional view talren on line 3--3 of Figure 1.

tire

Figure 4 is a detailed cross sectional view Figure 6 is a View of a cooperating clamp,

and

Figure 7 is a detailed view of the nut 15.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like reference characters indicate correspondingpa tn, the numeral 1 dc .ignates the tire carrier which may be attached to the vehicle chassisor body in any approved manner. This carrier is of thecircular or ring type. As herein shown the carrier is secured to the vehicle by the upper bracket 2, a continuation of which is bent downwardly in the. open interior of the carrier l to provide the arm 3 adapted to "support intermediate its ends a tail light or the like, while thelower end oi this arm may supporta license plate l. The lower end of the carrier is supported to the vehicle by a pair or brackets 5 which may be riveted,

wvelded or otherwise secured to the interior surface or the carrier ring.

N ow referring more particularly to ,the

construction of the carrier ring which forms my invention it will be observed that this ring is made from a relatively thin strip of.

metal. I have successfully used metal of a thickness of 18 gauge, which metal in the form of a strip is cold rolled to give the ring a U or channel shape. While I preferably cold roll the metalit will be understood that other operations may be resorted to in forming the metal into the shape the ring possesses and that metal of various thicknesses may be used although it is, of course, desir- Likewise a pair of corrugations 8 and'9 may be formedm the web or base extending circumterentially therearound at or near each sideoi said web or base, which corrugations give to the relatively thin strip of metal adequate strength so that the finished ring will withstand very severe shocks and strains.

to the relatively thin metal great strength.

be removed.

The upstanding ends or flanges and 11 of the channel ring are preferably provided with rebent ends 12 and 13. The material from which the ring is formed so rolled that the ends thereof extend downwardly parallel with the inner faces ofltheupstanding flanges 10 and 11 for the desired dis tances necessary to reinforce these flanges,

which may be from a quarter of an inch up ward, The rebent ends extending around the flanges not only give to the flanges great added strength, but also present smooth rounded surfaces on the flange portions of the ring. I

A strip of material from which the ring is to be formed is rolled in the manner herein described and the ends of the strip are fastened together in any approved. manner. In the present embodiment of the invention a locking "bracket 13 spans and surrounds the meeting edges of thering and this bracket isspoti welded,or riveted to the adjacent ends of the ring, thereby holding said ends together. The bracket shown in this application is formed with a housingle receiving a nut 15 held therein against rotation, the outer face of the housing having a bolt opening 16-thereinthrough which a locking bolt is permitted to enterthe housing and engage thethreads on the nut 15. A rim locking clamp 17 is preferably provided, the same being stamped or rolled from a sheet or strip of metal to provide the locking lug 18 and the base 19, which base fits against one side of the bracket 13 surrounding thering. A fastening bolt 20 passes through an opening in the clamp by means of which the clamp is locked to thering.

If alocking device is to be used with the carrier it may embody a bolt 20 the head of which is seated in a casing 21, While said casingis provided with an open end adapted to receive a locking plug 22. The locking lugs 5230f this plug engage a collar 24 in the easing so as to prevent removal of the plug by an unauthorized person. A suitable key will withdraw the ilogs so that the plug may The construction of thelooking plug and its associated mechanism forms no part of my invention but is *merely shown and described in order that a. complete ring carrier with its appurtenant parts may be illustrated. a i

The ring carrier also has a plurality of rim supports 25 that are of substantial channel shape and are riveted or otherwise sc euredto the ring, These brac kets receive a positioned spare rim which rests directly thereon while the. lower portionof the spare rim is engaged and supported by thelocking assembly that hassbeen hereinbefore discusseda a i the foregoing description it will be apparent that the carrier, ring is constructed from arelatively thin strip ofpaetalt llletal of a n'iinimum thickness may be employed only because of the specialconstruction of the ring, that is,by reason of the reinforcement given the thin metal due to the corrugations and rebent ends. The circumferential corrugations impart to the base or web of the ring great strength and it will, of course, be appreciated that any number of these corrugations can be used, although I have found that two or more corrugations will give the rim the desired strength when made from material of the thickness specified. It willbe also appreciated that the corrugations in the baseor web of the ring are most pleasing to the eye, givingthe ring a very massive appearance even though it is composed of strip material of a minimum thickness. It will likewise be appreciated that byrebendingthe ends of the metal forming the ring at the flanges thereof, these flanges which are normally subjected to severe strains and stresses are adequately reinforced iiermitting morethin material or nu terial that is so thin that it can be economically rolled, pressed or stamped to be used in the construction of a tirecarrier having the required strength to withstand the usages to which a carrier is placed.

\Vhilel have pointed out that the strip of material from which the ring is produced is preferably cold rolled to give it the contour and form specified, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to such a method of making the ring. Any otherapproved method may be resorted to which is capable :of giving astrip the form and contour to the rim herein disclosed, which enables relative ly thin material to be used in the construction of tire carriers possessing great strength with a minimum cost.

corrugations may be either inwardly or outwardly formed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: v a i l. Atire carrier for vehicles comprising a channel shapedring having a baseandtwo upstanding flanges, the saidring beingoi: substantially circular formation and adapted to receiveyain'l Sllpllml'l a demountahlc rim thereon, the base ]JUll l()ll of the ring lining proriiiled with a circuml'erential, centrally disposed, corrugation, spaced rim seats cured to the channel ring, said rim seats being provided with corrugations cooperating with the corrugation in the ring.

2. A tire carrier conmrising aVehaniu-l shaped supporting ring having airbase portion 7 and upstanding flanges, said ring adapted to receive and support a dominantable rim, a circumferential corrugations tending around the base of the ring and substantially centrally dis osed with respect to the base, anda rebent old of metal reinforcing the upper endsofthe flanges ofthe ring, rim seats secured to the channel ring Hill Ill)

at spaced points thereon, said rim seats being provided with longitudinal corrugations 1nterfittingly engaging the corrugation proring being provided with a centrally dis posed corrugation formed in the base thereof and a circumferentially disposed corrugation formed in the side of the base, said corrugations serving to materially strengthen the sheet metal channel shaped ring and imparting thereto a massive like appearance.

4:. A tire carrier comprising a channel shaped ring constructed of sheet metal and having a base portion and upstanding flanges integral. therewith, said ring being provided with a series of spaced annular corrug-atious fori'ned in the base thereof, the said corrugations serving to materially strengthen the ring and impart to it a mas sivc-liko appearance.

5. A tire carrier comprising a ring constructed oi sheet metal and having a base portion and two upstanding parallel flanges, a series of spaced annular corrugations formed in the base of the ring, means for securing said ring to the automobile, said means comprising a plurality of brackets provided with'corrugations conforming substantially to some of the corrugations provided in the ring structure.

6. A tire carrier for automobiles comprising a channel shaped ring made of sheet metal and having a base portion and tWo upstanding parallel flanges, said ring being provided with a circiunierentially disposed corrugation formed in each side of the base,

said corrugations serving to materially strengthen the sheet metal channel shaped ring and imparting thereto a massive like appearance.

7 A tire carrier for automobiles comprising a channel shaped ring made of sheet metal and of substantially circular formation, said ring having a base portion and two upstanding parallel flanges defining a space therebetn 'een and being provided with a circunl:terentially disposed corrugation visible when viewing the openinterior oi: the ring and imparting thereto a massive like appearance, and spaced rim seats shaped to substantially conform to the shape of the channel shaped ring and having laterally extending portions engageable with the side beads of the supported demountable rim.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

FREDERICK M. SMALL. 

